The Best Is Yet To Come
by soulofair
Summary: What if Jack and Liz had met after WWII? Cross-posted to my LJ same username . I do not own 30 Rock or the characters.
1. Chapter 1

Lieutenant John "Jack" Francis Donaghy had just arrived home from the Pacific and he was ready to get back to reality. Four years at Princeton University had been chased with two years in the Navy. Now, it was time to take advantage of the bustle of post-war New York City.

Jack's mentor, Donald "Don" Geiss had invited the newly-returned Jack to a party in his apartment in Manhattan. "Jackie-Boy, I want you to join us at a dinner party I am hosting this Saturday evening. Think of it as a way of getting back into the swing of things," Don told Jack.

This was why Jack was at Don's apartment on Saturday evening. He had dressed up in a suit that he had gone and purchased especially for this purpose; feeling a little underdressed when he arrived to the party. There were men in tuxedos and women in evening gowns. This was a little too glamorous for Jack Donaghy.

And then he saw her. She was someone that he would have missed had it not been for the fact that she was speaking with Mr. Geiss himself. She wore a long blue dress, her hair pinned up at the nape of her neck, and a pearl necklace that almost matched the pale skin it laid upon. She was a small woman, but Jack sensed that her personality gave her presence. Who was she?

Jack walked over to his mentor and the unidentified woman. "Hello Mr. Geiss," Jack greeted Don as he stuck his hand out to shake Don's.

Don returned the gesture and smiled to the woman. "Jack, have you met Miss Elizabeth Lemon?"

The woman turned to Jack and smiled. Her eyes were dark, much darker than any brown eyes that Jack had seen in his lifetime, and her lips were thin, but there was a certain level of glamour that intrigued Jack. She wouldn't have been someone that he would immediately notice if she were in a massive group of people, but she was someone that if she were noticed, she'd be a challenge to forget. Jack knew that he was toast. "Miss Lemon, it's a pleasure to meet you," Jack replied as he took her hand to kiss.

Miss Lemon looked put off by this gesture, but said nothing in protest. "Please, call me Elizabeth," she replied. "But I don't know what to call you."

Jack smiled. "Jack Donaghy," he answered.

Elizabeth nodded as she stuck her hand out to shake Jack's. "Well, Jack, it is lovely to meet you," she told him before she turned back to Don. "I think you shouldn't over-think it. Simplicity is all you need. Classic. There's a reason it's considered a classic."

Don laughed and put his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. "I knew I could count on you. Jack, this woman here is a genius. If I were crazy, I'd say she'd be running the company someday," Don remarked as he was pulled away by another guest.

Jack smiled as Elizabeth glanced around the room. "Are you and Mr. Geiss good friends?" he asked her.

Elizabeth's eyes clicked back over to meet Jack's. "I met Mr. Geiss after I took an assignment investigating the company a few years ago. You see, I'm a writer and I was writing a free-lance article for the Post. He's consulted me several times about business decisions, and I suspect that he keeps on inviting me to these things to find me a husband. I know he thinks quite highly of me and wishes to see me married off to one of his subordinates."

Jack found his heart unexpectedly flipping. "You're not married?" he asked stupidly.

Elizabeth shook her head. "My track record isn't great," she admitted with a smile. "But you know what: I'm okay with not getting married. I'm still young, I have my health, and I have a career. Who cares if I'm a spinster?"

"I'm surprised that a woman like you is okay with being single," Jack replied.

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at Jack. "Are you insinuating something, Mr. Donaghy?" she asked suspiciously.

When Jack had no reply, Elizabeth walked away from him for the rest of the evening.

Jack hadn't meant to be a jerk. He'd only been surprised that someone like Elizabeth Lemon wasn't married, wasn't looking to be married, and wasn't freaking out about the fact that she wasn't married or not looking to be married. That was abnormal for women her age. The women Jack Donaghy knew were all very family oriented women who all married young and started popping out babies. His mother had been like that, his sisters had been like that, women he'd gone to high school with (some he dated, most he didn't) had been like that… but why wasn't Elizabeth Lemon like that?

He wanted to find out.

Because he had ruined his chances of learning more about Elizabeth at Don Geiss' party, Jack spoke with his mentor as he left the party. "Do you know where I might be able to find Elizabeth on Monday?" Jack asked Don.

"She works on the 6th floor of 30 Rockefeller Center."

"She works for NBC?" Jack queried.

Don nodded. "News. She's quite good, probably should go into the entertainment sector though. She's got quite the wit."

Jack knew what his plans for Monday were.

At 9 AM sharp, Jack walked through the front doors of 30 Rockefeller Center wearing the suit he'd worn for Geiss' party. He was determined to get a job at this prestigious building, no matter the risks he'd have to take in this endeavor. He was Jack Donaghy, and he was going to be brilliant.

He headed up to Human Resources, got himself a job in the mail room, and promptly went to work.

By mid-afternoon, Jack came across a letter to one Ms. Elizabeth Lemon. He almost decked the other mail-person for the letter, and dashed up to the sixth floor. Before he reached the sixth floor, he popped a mint into his mouth and made sure he looked presentable for delivering the letter to Elizabeth Lemon.

He felt like a teenage boy who was going to talk to the girl that he liked. Except he wasn't a teenager (he was twenty-five, thank you very much) and he wasn't sure if he liked Elizabeth yet. He hadn't gotten the chance to know this woman enough to know if he liked her.

He marched into the writers' room and found Elizabeth was right there. "Miss Lemon?" Jack asked.

She turned around, her curly brown hair whipping around as she did so, and her face fell when she saw Jack. "Mr. Donaghy," she replied dully.

"I have a letter for you," he explained as he handed the envelope to her.

"Thank you. I didn't know you worked here," she replied quietly as she turned to face him completely.

"I just started. I've been promoted twice today."

"I was not aware that that was even possible."

"I'm an exception."

"Is that so?" Elizabeth asked as she turned back to the table.

Jack stepped closer. "Yes, actually. I am an exception."

"Jack… I have no time for you and your games. Please go back to your job and let me get back to mine. Who knows: you might get promoted again," Elizabeth hissed at him.

Two things had been accomplished with that encounter. One, Elizabeth had called him by his first name. Two, he had managed to get on her radar; why else would she have been irked by his presence? He now knew that she was aware of him and his presence in her world. And if he had learned anything from the Navy, he knew that it was now that he had to move into position for everything to line up.


	2. Chapter 2

After a week of promotions, Jack was finally the Junior President the News department of Radio Broadcasting. He didn't know exactly how it had happened, but somewhere along the way, someone (actually, about fifteen different people) had noticed that Jack had that sort of je ne sais quoi that allowed him to get ahead in life.

He ran into Elizabeth in the commissary during lunch on the Wednesday of his second week. They were both reaching for the last plum in a basket when Elizabeth's hand closed around Jack's hand. "Donaghy, drop the plum," a voice growled from behind Jack.

He turned around and saw Elizabeth standing behind him. Jack placed the plum into the basket and stepped forward in the line. Elizabeth took the plum from the basket and placed it upon her tray. "Miss Lemon," Jack stated cordially.

"Donaghy."

"Are you calling me that now?" Jack asked her, bemused.

"It's the closest thing I can call you without being improper in public," she replied.

"I like a woman who isn't afraid of being aggressive," Jack informed her. "May I know the origin your assertiveness for my research of my coworkers?"

"No."

"Very well then. I hope you enjoy your plum."

"I will."

When they had both paid for their lunches, Jack waited for Elizabeth. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" she asked him as she walked past.

"Actually, I was wondering if you would like to join me for lunch in my office."

"I don't venture far from the sixth floor," she explained.

"Then it should be a rather exciting experience for you. Please join me for lunch."

"I don't think that would be appropriate."

"How so?"

"An unmarried woman who already is walking on eggshells because she maintains what is considered to be an improper lifestyle by working in a male-dominated industry as a head writer for a major news program joining a male coworker in his office for lunch… what part of that sounds appropriate?"

Jack felt that it wasn't the time to point out that he was now her boss. He instead asked: "Are you good at what you do?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Are you good at your job?"

"I… suppose…. I am not sure what your point is, Donaghy."

"If you're good at what you do, who gives a damn?"

"I do."

"Why?"

"Look around us. How many women do you see in this room?"

Jack looked around the room and noted a few other women in the room, but they were young women, perhaps interns of some sort. He then looked back to Elizabeth, who looked to be in her early twenties, but older than any of the other women in the room. "But if you're good at your job, who cares? Leave the worrying to someone else."

"I'm sorry, but I am not comfortable with joining you for lunch in your office. Thank you for your offer though."

"Well… what about dinner then? Will you join me for dinner tonight?"

"In your office? I leave the office at five… unless you eat extremely early, I don't understand why I would join you for dinner in your office."

Jack sighed. "At a restaurant. With waiters and a chef," he clarified.

She bit her lip. As abnormal as that idea sounded and although she wasn't terribly fond of this Jack Donaghy character, she felt compelled to accept his offer. "Fine. You have yourself a deal. But, we will eat at six and I would like to choose the place."

"Six thirty and we eat somewhere in midtown."

"Six twenty and we eat somewhere ten blocks east of here."

"Six twenty-five and we eat somewhere seven blocks west of here."

"Six twenty-three and the restaurant will be a diner that is nine blocks east of here. All or nothing, Donaghy." Elizabeth picked up the plum and took a bite out of it. "So, what is it going to be?"

"Diner nine blocks east of here?" Jack echoed.

She nodded. He exhaled and then nodded. "I will meet you at a diner nine blocks east of here at six twenty-three," he verified.

Even though it was Elizabeth who had gotten the last plum, Jack had just picked from the tree of life a plum of his own.

Their dinner plans fell through when Elizabeth sent a note up to Jonathan, Jack's new assistant, via Cerie, Elizabeth's assistant. There had been some important broadcast that was being issued later on that evening, and Elizabeth needed to stay behind to oversee that everything was being taken care of.

Jack became fixated on catching Elizabeth Lemon when she wasn't wrapped up in her work, but this was a challenge. Jack wondered what her motivation was. Why was she so wrapped up in her work and not focused on getting married to someone who could support her and whatever family the marriage might produce? He kept thinking about what she had said at Geiss' party: that she suspected that Geiss was trying to marry her off to one of his subordinates. What if Geiss had thought that Elizabeth would be a good woman for Jack?

Jack certainly enjoyed the challenge that Elizabeth was; she was a puzzle that he'd yet to solve. Someone who was as intelligent and attractive as she was should have already been married off. Unless there was something else that he wasn't catching. There had to have been something he wasn't seeing. He knew the best was yet to come.


	3. Chapter 3

About three months after Jack arrived in New York, one of Jack's Navy buddies came by. Arthur Callahan of Denver, Colorado showed up at 30 Rock one morning, his military-issue duffel slung over his shoulder. "Johnny! Johnny Donaghy got himself a job!" Arthur called out as he saw Jack walking through the lobby.

Jack had been late getting to work. He had met up with Elizabeth for breakfast (something they now did on a regular basis) and had needed to find a new tie because Elizabeth had accidentally flung part of her breakfast onto the front of Jack. Elizabeth had left directly from the café they had had breakfast in for work, so Jack didn't know if he was going to see her in the lobby or if he'd have to stop by her office to show her the new tie.

Jack froze in his footsteps as he saw his friend. "Artie? What are you doing here?" he asked as he approached Arthur.

Arthur clamped a hand down on Jack's shoulder. "Johnny, I'm looking for work… is there anything you can do to help me out?"

Jack opened his mouth to speak when he saw Elizabeth walking through the lobby behind Arthur. "Miss Lemon!" he called out.

Jack and Elizabeth had agreed to refer to each other as Miss Lemon or Mr. Donaghy when they were in public to maintain decorum. Jack was pleased to see Elizabeth in the lobby, but felt a little disappointed knowing that he now didn't have an excuse to go searching for her in her office.

Elizabeth's eyes darted around until she saw Jack and his friend standing nearby. She changed courses and walked over to the two men. "Good morning, Mr. Donaghy," she said warmly. "Who is your friend?"

"Miss Lemon, this is a friend of mine from when I was in the Navy, Mr. Arthur Callahan."

Elizabeth stuck her hand out to shake Arthur's. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Callahan. I have not had the pleasure of meeting many of Mr. Donaghy's friends from when he was in the service."

Arthur's eyes were wide as he stared at Elizabeth. Elizabeth noticed this and shared a glance with Jack. "Are you okay?" she asked Arthur.

Arthur nodded slowly before turning back to Jack. "So, what's the answer, Johnny? Can you help me?"

Jack glanced from Elizabeth to Arthur. "I'll see what I can do," he promised Arthur. "But I suggest that you take this money and go out and get yourself a proper suit. No one comes into this building, expecting a job, wearing the clothing that you're wearing. Dress for the job that you want."

Jack pressed a small wad of bills into Arthur's palm as he shook his hand. After he sent Arthur on his way, Jack guided Elizabeth to the nearest elevator. "So, this is the tie you picked out?" Elizabeth asked as the doors closed.

Jack nodded. "But it's… dull," Elizabeth pointed out. "It's only one color, and it looks exactly the same as the other tie you were wearing this morning."

"Where I come from, if you have more than two colors on a tie, it means that you're looking for a certain something," Jack explained.

Elizabeth cocked her head in response to Jack's vague description. "Okay… I'll just have to take your word and leave it at that," she told him as the doors opened for the sixth floor. "I'll see you later."

Jack nodded and smiled until long after the doors had closed again.

After Jack got off work, he met Arthur for drinks. Arthur seemed to have urgent news he wished to divulge with Jack. "Johnny… your friend… Miss Lemon… what's her story?"

Jack seemed startled. "Her story?" he echoed.

Arthur nodded. "Does she work at NBC?"

"Yes, she's the head writer of one of the news programs. Why?"

"Because when I saw her this morning, I thought I'd seen her somewhere else before… turns out I have seen her before."

Arthur pulled out a folded up piece of paper from his new blazer. Covertly, he unfolded the piece of paper and smoothed it out on the counter in front of him as much as possible. He slid the photo over to Jack. "Did you know she was a pin-up model?" Arthur asked.

Jack stared down at the photo. Elizabeth Lemon, prim and proper Elizabeth Lemon, was sitting in a highly questionable pose in highly questionable clothing in a highly questionable photograph. Jack quickly glanced back up at Arthur. "Artie, where did you find this?"

"It was in one of the magazines I picked up while we were on tour. I mean… if it's not her, it could easily be… but I can't see how it wouldn't be her… she's even got the same mark on her face. Same place, same shape."

Jack paled. "Put it away Artie… no… wait, let me have that."

Artie pushed the photo over to Jack and Jack started tearing away at it.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Arthur squawked as Jack ripped the paper. "You might need that!"

"For what?"

"Aren't you going to ask her about it?" Arthur asked earnestly.

"Am I going to ask Elizabeth Lemon if this is her?" Jack asked indignantly. "Surely you aren't serious."

"Johnny, this might be something that could benefit you in the future… you know how women can get."

"Are you suggesting that I use this as blackmail against Miss Lemon?"

Arthur nodded. "You never know when you might need it…"

Jack sighed and pocketed the various pieces of the photo. Maybe Arthur was right.


	4. Chapter 4

Paste your document here...Three days later, when Arthur had been given a job out in Los Angeles, per Jack's recommendation, Jack invited himself into Elizabeth's office down on the sixth floor. (She still refused to join him in his office, still deeming it improper for someone like her to do so, especially since he was her boss.)

"Elizabeth, are you busy at the moment?" he asked as he poked his head into her office.

She glanced up and shook her head, waving him in. "Can I help you, Jack?" she asked as he came in and closed the door behind him.

He stood in front of her desk and reached into his inside pocket, pulling forth the photograph that had been taped back together. Jack set it down on the desk and glanced up at Elizabeth. "Is this you?" he asked her.

His question had been answered by the expression that washed over her face. "Oh no…" she murmured under her breath as she covered the photo with her hands. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

"My friend Arthur brought this to my attention. He told me that you looked familiar."

"Oh no! Jack… how on earth…"

"He said he found it in a magazine."

"Of course he found it in a magazine! That's where these sorts of things tend to be, don't they?" she asked, nearly hysterical.

She yanked the photo off of her desk and threw it into the waste-bin next to her. She then buried her face in her hands. "Oh my goodness… Jack… I… think I might lose my job because of that!"

Jack shook his head. "I won't let that happen. But, might I ask why you did this?"

She hesitated, but knew that it was Jack, and that he wasn't out to hurt her. "I needed the money. I wasn't going to make rent… it was two years ago, and I was… Jack, what am I going to do? If Arthur's seen it, that means that others have seen it, and oh no… what if people… HERE… have seen it?"

"It doesn't really look like you," Jack lied, trying to make her feel better.

"In what universe does that not look like me? That is me, there's no denying it… oh no…."

"Elizabeth, calm down," Jack urged.

She peeked through her fingers. "Jack, I can't calm down. Do you know what that makes me?"

"Someone who needed money?"

"A… hussy," she spat in a quiet hiss.

"Well, I can see your point there…"

She interrupted him before he could continue his counteargument. "I am a loose, floozy who can't be taken seriously."

He ignored her self-degradation. "Are you good at your job?"

"Which one? My actual job or the modeling job?"

"Your actual job, the one that you maintain at the present moment."

"Well, I suppose so…"

"Then that's how people should judge you."

"But you know people… they aren't going to judge me based on what I do now… well, they already do, but that photo is just another reason to judge me based on what I do now. No man in his right mind would ever marry the centerfold!"

"You're not a floozy," he finally told her.

"But they don't know that! No one knows that! They just see that photo, see what they like, and make of it what they will. They don't see the young woman who is terrified that she won't make rent or won't be able to pay for food and will be back in West Haven, Pennsylvania with her parents who will view her as a disappointment because she hasn't gotten married and chooses to work instead of being married and having babies."

"I see that young woman."

"No you don't. You see the girl who is in some snappy little number, sitting in questionable poses, trying to be sexy for a very specific audience, an audience that the girl will never meet, and tries not to imagine."

Jack sat down in the chair beside him. He finally understood why a woman like Elizabeth Lemon wasn't married. It wasn't because she was perfectly happy being single, it wasn't because she was overly confident, nor was it because she was completely consumed by her career; it was because she was terrified of being perceived as the immoral, impure bride who no one would ever claim as their own. "Elizabeth, you're not that photo. You're a very different person from the person in that photo," Jack told her.

"Why did you bring this here, Jack? Why did you come to my office with this photo? Are you trying to get back at me for something?" she asked him.

"No, of course not… I just wanted to see…"

"What did you want to see?"

"I don't know what I wanted to see… I don't know what I wanted to find out…"

"You just brought this in here to show me just because?"

"Artie suggested that I use it to blackmail you…"

"Are you blackmailing me? Because if you want, go for it. I'll be able to pick up somewhere else, somewhere probably in Kansas or something, and find a job as a secretary or something… I won't be happy, but I'll be okay."

"I'm not blackmailing you."

"Then why did you bring this here?"

"I guess I just needed to hear you say that this is you."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Jack—that answer doesn't suffice."

"Elizabeth, it's alarming to see this photo. I'm just as shocked as you are."

"Why are you shocked?"

"Because, you're Elizabeth Lemon, the brilliant journalist who doesn't have a single flaw to her reputation. I couldn't figure out why you hadn't been swept away by some man, and hadn't had kids yet…"

"And now you know."

"But I'm still not convinced."

"How much more do you need before you're convinced?"

"What is the worst thing that could come from this photo?"

"That men who see it will only see me as a sex object, and not as a person or someone they could see themselves settling down with."

"And what about that makes it bad?"

"Are you serious? Not being married makes women into the black sheep of the flock, and I'm already a black sheep as it is!"

"What if you were married?"

"What about it?"

"What do you think would change if you were married? Would you still be a black sheep?"

"Probably."

"Why is that?"

"I hold a place of authority within one of the most popular news programs on the radio. Men would kill for this job."

"Men like authority, which equates to power."

"That doesn't mean that men like me."

"I like you."

(He didn't add that he had begun to rely on her presence in his life, even though it had only been a matter of months. Women like Elizabeth Lemon didn't come along often, and Jack was smart enough to recognize, no matter how frustrating she could and would be, she was worth it. She would be worth the challenge if it meant that Jack had her as his wife. Whenever she was around, he found that he felt that he could take on anything that came his way. He found her sense of humor and her quirky little smile charming, and he found her prodigious self confidence levels to be very attractive. He was happy that she hadn't been swept away, because he was becoming more and more convinced that it was his job to sweep Elizabeth Lemon off her feet and marry her.)

"But you're an exception, remember? You told me that when you showed up in my office on your first day here."

"While that is true, it doesn't mean I'm not a man."

"What are you getting at, Jack?"

"If I were to ask you to marry me, would you say yes?"

Elizabeth stared at Jack with wide eyes. She said nothing.


	5. Chapter 5

The first time Elizabeth Lemon went to Jack Donaghy's office was two days after he asked her to marry him. It hadn't been a proposal per se, but he had asked if he were to ask her, would she say yes. To Elizabeth, it was the closest thing to being proposed to, and she wasn't sure if she'd say yes.

But when she walked up to Jack's office (after getting lost three times), she was ready to give him an answer. She wasn't (extremely) desperate to get married, but if Jack was serious, she was willing to give it a shot. She liked him, thought that he was decent enough to take home to her parents, and could see herself with him in forty years. She could see herself signing his last name whenever she signed her name, and she could see herself accompanying him to Don Geiss' various soirees. And any other soirees they would be invited to, of course. She could even see their children running around, with her curly brown hair and his eyes. The answer was quite clear in her head.

"Is Mr. Donaghy in his office?" Elizabeth asked Jonathan when she arrived to his office.

Jonathan nodded. "He is just finishing up a meeting, so you'll have to wait," Jonathan informed Elizabeth.

So, she took a seat and waited. It was nearly an hour later when she stood up. "Can you please tell Mr. Donaghy that I came by?" she asked Jonathan.

Jonathan nodded and Elizabeth left. By the time she reached the elevators, she heard running footsteps behind her. It was Jack, trying to catch her before she got on the elevator. "Elizabeth… wait!" he called out as he ran the last few paces toward her.

She was poised to press the button to call an elevator, but paused. "You're finally out of your meeting," she observed.

He gestured for her to follow him back to his office. Elizabeth was several strides behind Jack, but she managed to catch up so that they were walking shoulder to shoulder. "I have an answer for you," she told him quietly as they crossed into his office.

Jack closed the door behind them and watched as Elizabeth took a look around the office. "My goodness… this room is at least three times as large as my office…" she murmured.

"When I run this company, your office will be three times larger," he promised as he poured himself a scotch. "Would you like something to drink?"

She shook her head. "No thank you…"

A silence fell between them as she examined her surroundings and as Jack nursed his drink. "Are you going to run this company someday?"

Jack smiled at her. "That's the plan."

"Is Geiss on board with this plan?" she replied.

"I don't know… but hopefully I follow in his footsteps."

"That's why you're here, isn't it?"

Jack nodded. "At Princeton, I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Geiss, and I have been even luckier to call him my mentor. Do you know how many men would kill for that?"

"I'd have to suppose just as many men who would kill for my job," Elizabeth laughed as she seated herself in one of the chairs in the room.

Jack stepped closer to her. "So, you had an answer for me? What question is this answering?"

"Were you serious about your semi-proposal?" she asked him.

"My proposal of marriage?" he asked.

She nodded. He nodded in response. "Would you marry me?" he asked.

"I would."

"And how soon would you do this?"

"As soon as you see fit," she answered.

"Well, I see this fitting into a very near future."

"How near of a future?"

"No later than the first day of spring."

"Well, it's late February… how soon are you supposing?"

"A March wedding would be lovely."

"Should I be telling my parents?"

"It would be preferable that you did."

"And when should I have my parents meet you?"

"As soon as possible."

"And when will I meet your parents?"

"I will inform Colleen of the circumstances."

"Is your father not living?"

"It is best if my father is not included in this."

"I see. So, we are getting married in March."

"Yes. We are."

"I should probably start preparing."

"That would be prudent."

"I will start doing that."

"Very well."

"I am going to go now."

"Good night, Elizabeth," Jack replied.

"Good night, Jack," Elizabeth answered as she stood from the chair and walked out of the room.

Even if he never ruled the world, he knew that at least he'd have one hell of a wife to support him through his efforts to running this magnificent company he'd come to cherish and envelop in his life.

That seemed like enough.


End file.
